The One-Week Job Project: One Man, One Year, 52 Jobs - By Sean Aiken Page 0,2

had to do something.

I thought back to a dinner conversation with my parents and older sister in my senior year of college. My sister, Natalie, decided she’d put me on the spot. “So, Sean, what are you going to do after graduation?”

Silence followed as everyone awaited my answer, or rather, the chance to voice an opinion. My hesitation granted my family permission to bombard me with ideas on the direction I should take. My mom suggested teaching. My sister suggested that I use my business degree and look for an entry-level corporate job. My dad was the only one who didn’t have a specific path in mind. He is a man of few words, and the table went silent when he began to speak.

“Sean, it doesn’t matter what you do; just make sure it’s something you’re passionate about.” He paused thoughtfully. “I’ve been alive for nearly sixty years and have yet to find something I’m passionate about besides your mother.”

My dad never had the luxury of making job satisfaction a top priority. In 1976, recently married, he and Mom left their home country of Jamaica, which was beset by political strife and crime, in search of a safer environment in which to raise a family. They followed some friends to Canada. They’d never been to Canada, nor did they know many people there. It was a new culture. They had five thousand dollars to their name and a baby, my older sister, on the way. As a new immigrant, my father simply wanted a decent job so he could put a roof over his family’s heads and food on the table. He endured long hours at his tedious accounting job, deriving his happiness from the pride in knowing that my sister and I would always have something to eat, a safe place to call home, and the opportunity to one day go to college.

Reminded of my dad’s sacrifices, I renewed the promise I’d made to myself that night after dinner: I’d find a career that I would be passionate about, something that I’d love doing. And if there ever came a time when that career was no longer fulfilling, I’d have the courage to change it.

I’m going to spend the majority of my life working, I thought. I don’t want to spend that time always wishing it was the weekend, counting down the minutes to 5:00 P.M. I want to be as happy in my work as possible. I want to be one of those annoying people who say, “I’d do this job even if I didn’t get paid.”

With some newfound inspiration, I scoured various job boards and flipped through newspaper classifieds. All the important and ambiguous job titles sounded enticing, but I had no clue what the jobs would actually be like.

And that’s when I had an idea.

What if I was able to try out these different jobs? I thought. Then I could see what I like, what I don’t like, and find out what I need in a career to be happy.

The more the idea sank in, the more I liked it. At the end of January, I went to my best friend, Ian, with the idea. “So, you know how I’m trying to figure out what I want to do?” I said.

“Yeah. Have you decided?”

“Well, I think I’m going to do a different job each week for a whole year.”

He laughed. “You’re going to do what?”

“I’m going to accept job offers from different companies or individuals, for one week at a time, for a whole year.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah, fifty-two jobs in fifty-two weeks. I’m thinking that I could start a website where anybody can offer me a job for one week. Then I’ll travel anywhere somebody is willing to hire me and try out a different job each week to see what I like and don’t like.” I thought the idea was brilliant and waited for his response.

He stared at me blankly. “So … wait a second here,” he said. “And who is going to hire you for only one week?”

“Umm, I don’t know—anybody. I haven’t thought that far yet,” I said. “But I’m sure people will be open to the idea.”

“I don’t know, man, seems pretty … ” He paused, then smiled. “But hey, why not, right? Go for it.”

For years I’d gone to Ian with my ideas for various adventures, yet I’d never had the courage to pursue any of them. I had always wanted Ian to say, “Great idea, Sean. Let’s do it together.” I